1998 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Reviews from UK and Ireland

1998 Mercedes-Benz C-Class 180 Elegance 1.8

Summary:

Dignified, relaxed and comfortable

Faults:

Nothing major at all. Not one major garage visit

* A bit of graunching coming from the front corner.

* Kickdown never really worked properly (I picked it very cheap), but the transmission is fine otherwise. No bumps and/or clunks. On the rare occasion that I need a bit of extra oomph, I just shift it manually. Both the car and I are content with this situation.

* All the other bits and mechanical gubbins are there and are functioning as the engineers intended, as they will probably will be for quite some time.

* It's not a fast car by any stretch, but perfectly adequate. Hummed along happily at 160 km/h when a French ferry strike necessitated covering the ground quick between Roscoff and Le Havre, loaded with four adults and all their cheese and wine.

* Rust is a thing. Gotta keep an eye on it... all the old faves - arches, sills, stone chips etc, This is my second W202; the first fell to wire worm in the end.

* Super light power steering lacks the "feel" that motoring journalists tell us that we need, but it just makes it so easy to zip around and park. Whenever I get into my girlfriend's Puma, it feels like I'm wrestling with a Morris Oxford.

This car's USP is comfort, it has neither the desire nor ability to do the Nurburgring. I'm OK with that.

So I've got a 4 door five seater with four airbags, ABS, traction control (which you can't turn off, which is fine because I don't want to do that) cruise, A/C, electric everything and lots of good wood. It as solid as the proverbial and as comfortable as a bed. 28/35 MPG (imperial).

If it wasn't for the booted Opel Kadett rear end, it would look like a 4/5th scale W123.

And that's a good thing!

General Comments:

A relaxing, comfortable cruiser, that 16 years later still makes you look like you mean business.

1998 Mercedes-Benz C-Class C240 Sport 2.4 V6

Summary:

Deeply disappointing

Faults:

Steering damper replaced at 67500 miles at a cost of £250.

Rear brake pads replaced at 67500 miles and again at 70000 miles, both fitted at Mercedes Benz main dealer.

Main dealer has had the car for the last 10 days due to the engine reaching temperatures exceeding 100°C (it used to run at a constant 80°C). After many diagnostic tests, costing a fortune, and 20 hours of labour looking at the car, also replacing numerous items, they say they cannot find the fault with the car and there is nothing else they can do to assist me!

General Comments:

The car is only 9 years old, but has large rust patches on most of the exterior body panels. A problem with Mercedes of this era I am led to believe. We have a 1996 Honda Civic which has no rust and 120000 miles on the clock (great car).

The car is comfortable and nice to drive, although it does feel underpowered and consumes vast amounts of petrol even when driven with a light right foot (18-20mpg).

I,ve always wanted a Mercedes, however after one year of ownership I am very dissapointed and therefore selling it on to buy another Honda.

2nd May 2007, 05:24

Sounds a bit steep for the steering damper. It's a simple bolt on part under the car which I'm led to believe costs around 40 pounds. Suggest you seek out a independant MB specialist to look at the temperature problem. These cars really only make sense if you keep them a few years - as you'll probobly loose heavily selling on after a year.

5th Aug 2015, 22:07

A steering damper costs 75 Euros, and all it needs to replace it is undo two bolts, one at each end, and put the new one in. It takes 15 minutes to replace.

The temperature issue does not make sense to me. The only car we had that would not keep its temp was one that had been given tap water for a long time. It rusts and causes loads of corrosion everywhere. Someone has to pay the price then. To give this car a new start, we replaced the radiator and the heater, since they were restricting water flow, and we next ran the engine for 100 miles with rust remover added to Mercedes rad fluid twice. It was OK then.

Sounds like bad workmanship to me, and loads of elements of non conformance with the norm.